House Taxation Committee advances bill to shift some voted levies to dollar amounts, allow 3/4 inflation adjustment

The House Taxation Committee on Thursday advanced House Bill 20, introduced by Representative Jennifer Brewster, after adopting two amendments and approving the twice-amended bill in executive action by a 16-5 vote.

The measure, as discussed in committee, changes how certain voted levies are structured and how they may adjust for inflation going forward. Under the amendments adopted in committee, levies that are posed to voters as dollar amounts (rather than as mills) may include an optional provision allowing the levy to increase at three-quarters of the prior three-year average rate of inflation; the language as amended does not apply that calculation to existing levies that remain expressed in mills.

Representative Brewster, the bill sponsor, said the first amendment removes references to school funding that had been included in the original draft. "There were a number of references to school funding in this bill. And so…